Eole - january 8, 2009

Freezing cold (-2°C) today. The outside half covered arena, open to all winds was the only one available. And, on top of that, Eole had not been ridden for two days! I braced myself for a lively session...But Eole (my readers know it) is a wonderful personality. He only showed one or two signs of excitement at the beginning, but quickly offered his energy to me. The walk part was shortened, because I felt that he had to let some steam out. So we worked at trot, essentially sitting, with lots of circles and figures, then shoulder-ins. It was a marvellous feeling to have the impression of progressively taking full control of a boiling energy, that turned into giving an exceptional brilliance to the gaits, instead of breaking out into unpleasant bursts! When starting canter, I carefully chose a circle in a corner, anticipating possible undesired events. But no, it did not happen even when a lorry passed by with rattling noise! In fact, Eole gave me an incredibly collected, slow, cadenced, round canter in full lightness. Froth was on his lips. I did a lot of work on spirals and ended into passade which was so close to the beginning of a pirouette. Pure delight!